M. Ghazavi - Assistant Professor, formerly Civil Engineering Department, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran, Currently Faculty of Civil Engineering, K.N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
Z. Safarzadeh - Graduate Student in Geotechnical Engineering; Civil Engineering Department; Isfahan

A simple analytical method is developed in this paper to predict the seismic lateral earth pressure againist rigid retaining structures using Coulomb method. The inertia force of backfill on the wall is estimated using Mononobe-Okabe pseudo static approach. A differential equation of the first order is developed, considering the equilibrium of the forces on an element of the failure wadge within the backfill. The equation is then solved using appropriate boundary conditions. The seismic lateral thrust on the wall is subsequently obtained. A comparison is also made between the Mononobe-Okabe formula and the formula presented in this paper.

Rigid Retaining walls, Seismic earth pressure; Pseudo-static analysis